Go to church and be blessed!!

God is soo gooood. He has blessed me with Sundays off the past month, something that doesn't happen in retail, and I have been enjoying the time with my wife and girls. It is true that we need to go to church. I need to go to hear from God through His word and be in fellowship. Our worship leader wrote a song that truly lined up with the thankfulness that I have for the salvation that Jesus offers. I can't say it enough, seek God and you will find Him. His peace passes all understanding.

Thy Word

I have been reading a lot and am in awe with the marvelous exploits of God. There are so many wonderful scriptures that show how He only wants us to love and follow Him. We started reading about Gideon in Judges 6. The nation of Israel was committing evil in the sight of the Lord.

Wow, it just hit me. Where could we do evil and God not see it? Nowhere.

So it continues in Judges that God used the nations of the world to correct the thinking and direction of the people. They were tired of living in caves an having all of their foods and resources taken from them. They cried to God for deliverance.

Then God sent a prophet to them to remind them who he was. He had delivered them from slavery and given them the land that was flowing with milk and honey. They had everything they needed physically. But as we all do, they got caught up in the things of the world and neglected the God who had created them and has been faithful to provide all they needed.

What do we need? God!! He is the giver of life both physical and spiritual. It doesn't mater if you have the world and all it has to offer if you do not have The God who created it all and given it to us. The pleasures that this world offers always fades away. It shines and glitters for only a short time than tarnishes. The physical sensations become dulled and have to get more extreme until there is nothing else that can satisfy the physical urges for pleasure.

I have found that being redeemed, forgiven of my sins, knowing God, and knowing that I am going to be with Him in eternity is the only thing that has satisfied me.

Taste the Lord and see that He is good.

Not only do I live in the desert, I have been there spiritually.

Our God is an awesome God! He is always watching out for us.

I live in Southern California. It is a desert that has the water pumped in. In the summer it can average 105 degrees for weeks. There are some beautiful areas that are lush and green, but it is only because life giving water is pumped in in tremendous amounts. The key is the "life giving water". I have also noticed that if the ground is sun baked and hard the water just rolls over it not penetrating.

That is how I have felt for a couple of months. I have let work and the cares of this life make me hard and sun baked. My heart needs to be plowed and softened by God and His precious Word. About three weeks ago I was really tired of work and frustrated that there is not any room for promotion at the place of my employment. I was working, working, working, working. Not taking any time for my relationship with my Lord. Dry and crunchy, hungry and thirsty, tired and weary. I had been working almost every Sunday and when I was off I would make excuses to not go to church. I would say that I was tired and needed to rest. I had to get ready to go and work my tail off to earn the next spot up the ladder. Ha, what a fool.

The Lord said to rest in Him. His burden is light. He will give me rest. He will give me living water. There is only peace in Him and through Him. There is hope only in Jesus Christ.

I know I have been forgiven of my sins. I know I am going to heaven. I know that I have eternal life in Christ Jesus. Then why do I allow myself to walk into the desert and lose the peace and joy that I have when I am in the center of God's will for me? I guess I look at the mirages that are in this world and walk towards them instead of staying next to my sweet and precious Lord. the mirage of sitting and resting in the TV, or the mirage of taking a nap instead of getting into God's word or serving the body of Christ. Putting my flesh before God.

I have challenged my daughter to memorize Exodus 20, the 10 commandments. The first two commandment deal with having only Him as our God and not creating idols. I needed to get back to the basics of a solid relationship with God and not the world and the daily cares of what may come about.

Father, I need you every minute of every day. Help me to continually seek your face and desire only to worship You.

The last couple weeks have been very joyful. I have found the Blue Letter Bible project on line and is has been a wonderful source of inspiration from the Bible. Some great commentaries and study materials. A great place to dig into God's word. Check it out.

What God has shown me the last couple weeks is that I have walked into the desert of the world, but He is the place that I need to be. In Him is where there is refreshment and joy.

"Rise take up thy bed and walk.

It has really been exciting to look at my relationship with the Lord with new eyes. To ask Him to speak to me and grow my faith and walk with Him through the study of His word.

The section of scripture that I have been reading and meditating on is John 4:46-5:16. The Lord performs two acts of healing. The first one a child's father went to the Lord to seek healing. The second, the Lord went to a man who needed to be healed.

It is amazing the way God works. The father of the child knew where to go for help. He had heard of the wonderful things that our Lord was doing and knew where he could get the help his child needed. Do we go to the Lord for those we know need His help?

Think about it. Do we have the kind of faith that we would go to the Lord and seek healing of any sort? There are physical and spiritual healing that the Lord performs. Do we have the faith to go to the Lord and seek His favor like the father of the child? Or are we like the man at the pool of Bethesda, just hoping that one day we will be able to get into the pool and have the the chance to get healed? We can sit around all day for many years and wait on a chance healing, wallowing in self pity, " I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming another steppeth down before me."

God has a lot of patience with me. He has, in my lifetime, spoken to me and revealed His will for my life many times in many ways. I have just chosen to focus on problems and struggles that I have created or put myself in. I look at the daily life I am living and focus on what I need to do to get by.

Well the Lord has been speaking loud and clear to me the last week. He has been saying, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk". Walk with me, I have healed you. I have many wonderful things for you to see and experience. Go tell all who ask, that it was I who healed you.

The man whom the Lord "immediately" healed, took up his bed and walked. I want to be that man.

Father, help me to demonstrate trust in You. May I have boldness to tell all that need a healing where to find it. It only comes from You.

The fields are white already to harvest.

Today is a beautiful day in SO-CAL. The sun is shinning the birds are singing and everything is starting to bud and turn green. Spring is a wonderful time. On days like this I wonder what heaven will be like. To be in the presence of God, mind boggling to try and think about it.

As I stated in the last post, having a new Bible is like being a new believer, excited about getting into the word and hearing from God. In John 4:34-38 Jesus made a statement about the work of kingdom laborers. He points out the fact that we look at the earthly seasons and can estimate when the harvest will be. But He stresses that we should lift our eyes and look upon the fields, the time of the harvest is now. The fields are white ready to harvest.

How is it that I have lost that sense of urgency. I will tell you. I have let the daily grind of this life become my focus. I have taken my focus from up on high to things below.

The time is now to harvest souls for the kingdom of God. Father I thank you for showing me where my focus should be. Help me to be bold for you and the salvation offered through Your son Jesus.

I can't live without the Word

The other day when I was heading to work there was an incident that totally bummed me out. I usually always make a thermos of coffee to enjoy throughout the day. Well, I have been working a lot of hours 65 to 70 a week, and was real tired that morning. I made my coffee as usual, put it in my bag with my lunch and proceeded to work. Little did I realize that I had not pushed the plunger on the pour spout. The bag tipped in the seat, and I did not think any thing of it until a few miles down the road I started to smell coffee. Oh no, I thought I would not have any coffee today. I was going to have a terrible day. Well that was not the worst of it. My Bible was on the seat, under my lunch bad. It was ruined. All the notes I had taken were gone. The personal notes about how God spoke to me and personal reflections of God and His love grace and mercy upon me were gone. I also did not have my Bible to read at lunch or in my devotional time. Then God spoke to me through a Bible teacher I heard on the radio. He said It is not how much you mark up the Bible that is important, it is how much the Bible marks up your life. I have a new Bible now. Clean crisp pages. I feel like a new believer excited about having a new Bible. I want to read more and desire to have God change me in deeper ways.

Father please continue to use Your word to mark my life. Use it to bring glory to Your Son. Change me through the renewing of my mind that I may prove what is the good and the acceptable and perfect will of God.

Jesus had an appointment with me.

This has been a very trying few weeks for me. I feel as though I am living my life in a bubble. I get up make some coffee, get ready for work, kiss my wife and kids bye, drive to work, work for 10 to 12 hours, drive home, eat dinner, read a little, go to bed, and get up and do it again. If it wasn't for the hour I get with my wife and the a time in the Word I could go crazy. I feel as if I am drying up. No joy nor purpose in my life.
Until I read John 4:4. It says that Jesus needed to go through Samaria. He had an appointment. He met with a woman who was probably feeling like I have been lately. She was at the well getting water (working the daily grind), and was not feeling too fulfilled and questioning herself if her worship and relationship with God was what it should be. She was thirsty for more than this life has to offer. In the conversation with the Lord he reveals that he is the source for fulfillment. He wishes to give living water that will flow into and through our lives. But in order for us to receive we must believe He is who He says He is. He points out to the woman that he knows all about her and her life. She then realizes that He is a prophet and starts to seek religious truths from Him asking about the Messiah. He tells her that He is the Messiah. She believes and goes to tell the people of the city she is from and many believed in Him because of her testimony.
Wow, what has happened to the excitement I used to have about meeting Jesus? Why am I not telling everyone I come in contact with about Him?

Father , please fill me to overflow. I want to be refreshed and be used by You to share that all can find a fulfilled relationship with You. That all can understand that You are Spirit and those who worship you must worship in spirit and truth. Give me the same excitement I had when You first met with me and showed me who You were.

You can't work your way to heaven.

Forgiveness of sins and a relationship with God is something that can not be earned. It is what God gives freely to those who seek him with a pure heart.

The Passover is a religious holiday that God instituted with the nation Israel. The nation of Israel took the religious ceremony and turned it into a way for man to try and earn or buy God's favor. Jesus, I think, started to show the Jews that the religious system of that time was not what God had intended. He threw the individuals who had turned the worship systems that God had implemented into money making schemes, out of the Temple. His anger was prophesied in Psalm 36:9, and when the Jews remembered the prophesy they asked Jesus to show them a sign to prove He was God. He answered them and said" Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. They couldn't believe Him because it had taken man forty-six years to build the temple. They did not understand that He was speaking of His body.

Jesus goes on to meet with Nicodemus, a teacher of the Jews. In the conversation Jesus explains to him that a man must be born again to see the things of heaven. That second birth is of the spirit. The first is natural, of the water. Nicodemus showed that he did not understand by asking if a man must enter his mother again and be born again. I believe he was seeking man's way to enter heaven. God's way involved a spiritual work of God. That way includes mans belief in God's Son, Jesus, and the work that God does through Jesus. The Spirit of God does a supernatural work in the heart of man to give him an understanding of the spiritual things of God. Belief springs forth from the work of God. God will reveal Himself to those who diligently seek Him.

On the third day......

The "third day" is used by God many times God to reveal new things or beginnings. It is used in John 2 to show the start of the Lord revealing himself through miracles. He turns water into wine at the wedding. Many bible commentators say that the wine represents joy. It is hard to describe the joy that I had when I was saved. To know that God has changes me from that person who was miserable, seeking fulfillment in the things that the world offered and my flesh desired, to someone who desires to walk with God daily and share His love with everyone I meet. To know that my sin was forgiven and that the creator of the world loved me so much, that He payed the price that I deserved to pay. He died on the cross, shed His innocent blood to pay God's requirement for the forgiveness of my sin. And he rose the third day, overcoming death and the grave. Wow, what a great gift that can not be re-payed, only received freely.
This is the beginning of the miracles that the Lord will be doing. It is amazing to see that many people will see the glory of God revealed in the miracle ministry of our Lord Jesus.
I see something interesting in this same portion of scripture. The master of the feast makes an interesting comment about the bridegroom saving the best for last. What do you think?

I want to be a Nathanael. Today I read how Jesus revealed Himself to Nathanael. Jesus was heading to Galilee and he found Philip and told him to "follow Me". Philip then went to get Nathanael and tell him that they had found Him who was written of by Moses and the prophets. Nathan seemed to be a little doubtful in questioning if He who was spoken of could come from a place like Nazareth. But Philip was persistent in bringing his friend to see Jesus. He said ,"Come and see". The statement that Jesus makes to Nathanael shows that He is from God. He says, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!". Than He tells him that he had seen him under the fig tree. At that moment Nathanael knew that Jesus was the "Son of God." Was Nathanael in prayer seeking God during the time he was under the fig tree? I think he was. God knows when we are being truthful in our relationships with others and with Him. I want to be without deceit and have quiet time in prayer and the Word every day. Pray for me.

It is amazing how God lets Himself be found when we diligently seek Him. While I was reading the Word at lunch time God confirmed the fact that I can seek Him where ever I am. I was reading in John's gospel about the beginning of the Lord's ministry years when He was gathering the disciples to Himself. He asked the two disciples of John the baptist " What do you seek?". Wow, I thought to myself. What do I seek. Am I seeking comfort, riches, fame, pleasure? No. I am seeking a relationship with the Creator of the universe, the Savior of mankind, the Lover of my soul. But where do I find it? In His word and in fellowship with His people. I discovered that in Acts 2:42 an example of how the early church grew. " And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers". I definitely want to grow in my relationship with our loving God. I sooo want more time in the Word and prayer.

Does work keep you away from worship services?

Well, it is another Sunday and the job has kept me away from church. If it is not working on Sunday, it is being so tired from closing that I can't get up after 3 or 4 hours of sleep. How do you get into fellowship when retail is the way you make your living? Do I look for different work? This Blog will be the way I track my journey to walk closely with God and fellowship with His people. Pray for me.
Rich